subject: Christmas Is A Manger Thing [print this page] I also saw that it takes the average American couple six months just to pay for Christmas. Christmas is a manger thing. Christmas is a manger thing. And it is awesome to realize that Christ"s birth and death both entailed wood and nails. Christ was placed in a manger, a simple piece of farm furniture held together with nails and then when at death He was placed on another wooden structure and His body was held there by some nails.
I love that furniture thing. I had a great experience with furniture lately. For years my wife and I have known a very prominent family in Houston. Ed Young Pastor tells us that to put it in Texas vernacular, they are loaded. They are rich. They have got a lot of stuff. We used to house-sit for them and baby-sit their children. This past summer I was fortunate enough to spend a day on one of their ranches in the northwest. Words cannot describe it. I took a tour of their little farmhouse. It is a quaint little house. I was with a friend of theirs. When I walked into the farmhouse and saw the furniture, to be frank, I thought it was ugly. I am talking about U G L Y, you ain"t got no alibi, ugly. It was art deco looking, the kind of stuff that didn"t really fit. I would never, ever have bought that furniture for my house. The lady said, " Ed, do you see the furniture right there? They bought the furniture 30 years ago and recently found out that furniture like this is being auctioned off at Christies and is really valuable." I replied, " Really. To me it looks kind of ordinary." She said, "Let me tell you how valuable. The furniture that you are looking at cost over 2.4 million dollars."This UGLY, art deco, western furniture cost 2.4 million dollars. I wondered why it was so valuable since our friends just sit on our furniture and drink coffee while sitting there. No big deal. Why is this particular furniture so extraordinary? I will tell you why. Years ago, this artist, this genius craftsman named Robert Muls... took nails and wood and paint and leather and made this stuff. It is extraordinary. Well, that spoke a lot to me. Because Jesus Christ can take ordinary farm furniture and in His hands, He can take you and He can take me and make us extraordinary. But it only occurs when we allow Him to be born and to live in the manger of our lives. So yes, Christmas is a manger thing but it is followed by a cross thing.
